When movie stars or pop singers visit Tokyo, the trips fall into a familiar pattern. The celebrity is greeted by throngs of reporters at the airport and the paparazzi follow the star from promotional event to promotional event for the next few days.

Bloomberg News

Terry Gou, chairman of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., is surrounded by reporters as he leaves a news conference in Tokyo on Aug. 27

This week, the star in question wasn’t Lady Gaga or Angelina Jolie, it was Terry Gou, chairman of Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.. His arrival has been a mix of celebrity star-gazing and diplomatic state visit with dozens of reporters trailing his every step. Mr. Gou’s visit is drawing so much attention because of the uncertain nature of his company’s possible investment in cash-strapped Japanese electronics manufacturer Sharp Corp Sharp Corp..

On Tuesday, he even managed to do a little shopping — the calling card of any celebrity visit. But instead of snapping up Tokyo’s designer fashions, Mr. Gou reached a tentative agreement with NEC Corp. for his company, better known as Foxconn, to buy some of its liquid crystal display patents.

While he’s here as part of a large Taiwanese business delegation to strengthen economic ties between the two countries, Mr. Gou is the clearly star attraction — reporters even greeted him coming off his private jet at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.

At a press conference for the delegation on Monday afternoon, he was one of a group of speakers seated in front of about 30 reporters from Japan and Taiwan. Instead of focusing on the main speaker — former Taiwanese vice president Vincent Siew — nearly all the microphones were placed in front of Mr. Gou’s seat, which remained empty for the first 20 minutes of the event.

He is reported to have enjoyed an early morning breakfast on Tuesday with Kenichi Ohmae, a former McKinsey & Co. partner and a well-known author of Japanese corporate strategy books. On Tuesday afternoon, reporters crowded around Mr. Gou at NEC’s headquarters in Tokyo where he told them about the patent agreement — much to the surprise of NEC’s public relations staff who weren’t prepared to make an announcement.

Mr. Gou said he had hoped to sign the paperwork on the deal with NEC on Tuesday, but the process was taking longer than he had expected. While Japanese firms are criticized regularly for a bureaucratic approach that can slow down decision-making, the Foxconn founder was diplomatic in explaining the cultural differences between Taiwan and Japan.

“Taiwan may be quicker, more flexible, but Japan is more systematic and more of a step-by-step approach,” he said, speaking in English. “We want to respect the Japanese system and respect the Japanese culture.”

The Terry Gou roadshow is expected to move to western Japan on Wednesday via one of Japan’s renowned bullet trains. On Thursday, he’s expected to host the Taiwanese delegation for a tour of the state-of-the-art Sakai LCD factory near Osaka. Mr. Gou owns the factory together with Sharp after he bought a 38% stake in it last month.

While in Osaka, he’s also expected to sit down with Sharp executives to talk about if they can reach an agreement to rework a plan for Hon Hai to invest in the Japanese firm.

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